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Silencing the Past: Public Monuments and the Tutelary State
Sanford Levinson
This essay is concerned with a kind of censorship that falls outside the usual understanding of that term. In particular, I will be asking if the state itself should ever be subject to censorship -- i.e., prevented, perhaps even by the force of law, from articulating certain sentiments....
The Liberty Monument
In New Orleans stands what for most persons is an obscure monument to an obscure incident. The Liberty Monument celebrates the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place, described by an admiring local historian as "The Overthrow of Carpet-Bag Rule in New Orleans -- September 14, 1874." Me
bers of the appropriately named White League engaged in the violent overthrow of the existing Louisiana government, composed of an alliance of Republican whites and newly enfranchised African-Americans. Thi
rty-
two lives were lost on both sides,
with about three times that many persons injured. The ousted administration of Republican Governor Kellogg was in fact reinstated by force of federal arms, but it was only a matter of time until the Compromise of 1877 resulted in full-scale restoration of conservative white rule as sought by the White League, with attendant consequences for the future of African-Americans.
Immediately following the battle, with the partisans of the White League in apparent control of the state (of which New Orleans was then the capital), the New Orleans Daily Picayune saluted the downfall of the Kellogg regime (which, in the words of the editors, had "collapsed at one touch of honest indignation and gallant onslaught") and called for the erection of a memorial to t
he eleven whites who had died in behalf of the insurgency. The New Orleans City Council formally agreed in November 1882, when it passed an ordinance renaming the area of the battle as "Liberty
Pla
ce" and
authorizing the erection of a monument "in h
onor of those who fell in defense of liberty and home rule in that heroic struggle of the 14th of September, 1874." By 1891 these hopes were realized with the construction of an obelisk near the Mississippi River at the foot of Canal Street, a principal street in the city. (New Orleans had seven years earlier erected a giant monument to Robert E. Lee that continues to preside, entirely unobscurely, over Lee Circle.) The Liberty Monument included the names of those White Leaguers who gave their lives in attacking the hated mixed-race government, as well as the names of some of the League leaders. According to Judith Kelleher Schafer, a leading historian of the incident, the 1891 dedication of the monument initiated what became a yearly parade
thereafter each September 14, with suitable wreath-laying ceremonies to honor the civic heroes.
Lest anyone unaccountably fail to get the intended message, the city, using artisans s
upplied
by the federally fun
ded Works Progress Administration, added in 19
34 two plaques setting out the official version of events. On one side of the base was chiseled, "United States troopers took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election in November 1876 recognized white supremacy and gave us our state." On the opposite side appeared, "McEnery and Penn, having been elected governor and lieutenant governor by the white people, were duly installed by the overthrow of the carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers Gov. Kellogg (white) and Lt. Gov. Antoine (colored)."
As one might well expect, the Liberty Monument has remained a source of controversy in New Orleans, especially as African-Americans have become a dominant political force in the city.
more at...
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/levinson.htm
Silencing the Past: Public Monuments and the Tutelary State
Sanford Levinson
This essay is concerned with a kind of censorship that falls outside the usual understanding of that term. In particular, I will be asking if the state itself should ever be subject to censorship -- i.e., prevented, perhaps even by the force of law, from articulating certain sentiments....
The Liberty Monument
In New Orleans stands what for most persons is an obscure monument to an obscure incident. The Liberty Monument celebrates the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place, described by an admiring local historian as "The Overthrow of Carpet-Bag Rule in New Orleans -- September 14, 1874." Me
bers of the appropriately named White League engaged in the violent overthrow of the existing Louisiana government, composed of an alliance of Republican whites and newly enfranchised African-Americans. Thi
rty-
two lives were lost on both sides,
with about three times that many persons injured. The ousted administration of Republican Governor Kellogg was in fact reinstated by force of federal arms, but it was only a matter of time until the Compromise of 1877 resulted in full-scale restoration of conservative white rule as sought by the White League, with attendant consequences for the future of African-Americans.
Immediately following the battle, with the partisans of the White League in apparent control of the state (of which New Orleans was then the capital), the New Orleans Daily Picayune saluted the downfall of the Kellogg regime (which, in the words of the editors, had "collapsed at one touch of honest indignation and gallant onslaught") and called for the erection of a memorial to t
he eleven whites who had died in behalf of the insurgency. The New Orleans City Council formally agreed in November 1882, when it passed an ordinance renaming the area of the battle as "Liberty
Pla
ce" and
authorizing the erection of a monument "in h
onor of those who fell in defense of liberty and home rule in that heroic struggle of the 14th of September, 1874." By 1891 these hopes were realized with the construction of an obelisk near the Mississippi River at the foot of Canal Street, a principal street in the city. (New Orleans had seven years earlier erected a giant monument to Robert E. Lee that continues to preside, entirely unobscurely, over Lee Circle.) The Liberty Monument included the names of those White Leaguers who gave their lives in attacking the hated mixed-race government, as well as the names of some of the League leaders. According to Judith Kelleher Schafer, a leading historian of the incident, the 1891 dedication of the monument initiated what became a yearly parade
thereafter each September 14, with suitable wreath-laying ceremonies to honor the civic heroes.
Lest anyone unaccountably fail to get the intended message, the city, using artisans s
upplied
by the federally fun
ded Works Progress Administration, added in 19
34 two plaques setting out the official version of events. On one side of the base was chiseled, "United States troopers took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election in November 1876 recognized white supremacy and gave us our state." On the opposite side appeared, "McEnery and Penn, having been elected governor and lieutenant governor by the white people, were duly installed by the overthrow of the carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers Gov. Kellogg (white) and Lt. Gov. Antoine (colored)."
As one might well expect, the Liberty Monument has remained a source of controversy in New Orleans, especially as African-Americans have become a dominant political force in the city.
more at...
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/levinson.htm